The Cook Book Challenge - Week 7 : Soft

Week 7 : Soft

Recipe :  Soufle au Fromage

Cook Book : Mastering the art of French Cooking by Julia Child

I got this book from Hubby for Christmas and I was so delighted when I unwrapped it as it was on my wishlist.   After watching Julie and Julia, I have been inspired to cook French.  In the past I have felt some what daunted by French cooking but the book makes it easy as the recipes are simple  and easy to read and follow.

For this weeks cook cook challenge, I was a week behind.  I wanted to cook souffle on the Sunday but Hubby fell sick and I didn't want to cook this just for myself.  It was too much effort for one person.  When Hubby felt better and was able to eat again, I made this fantastically light souffle.   I've made souffle only once before a couple years ago and to be honest, I was quite nervous about making it.  I do have to say that it turned out airy, fluffy and SOFT.  I have to also give credit to Hubby.  He helped me to cook this.  Thomas, my 4month old was playing up a little and needed my attention.  So, under my supervision and guidance, Hubby cooked.

Preheat oven 205degC

1 tsp butter

1tbls grated Parmesan cheese

Butter inside of a 6-cup souffle mold and sprinkle with cheese.

3 tbls butter

3 tbls flour

1 cup boiling milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of nutmeg

4 eggs, separated

1 egg white

pinch salt

3/4 to 1 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon and cook over moderate heat until the butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without browning.  Remove from heat; when mixture has stopped bubbling, pour in all the boiling milk.  Beat vigorously with a wire whip.  Add the seasonings.  Return to moderately high heat and boil, stirring for 1 minute.  Sauce will be very thick.

Remove from heat. Drop the egg yolks in the center of the hot sauce and beat with the wire whip.  In a separate bowl  whip the 5 egg whites with the salt until stiff.  Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the sauce.  Stir in all but a tablespoon of the cheese.  Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites.  Be careful not to over fold.

Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared mold.  Tap bottom of mold lightly and smooth the surface of the souffle with the flat of a knife.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 190degC.  (Do not open oven door for 20 minutes).  In 23-35 minutes the souffle will have puffed about 5cms over the rim of the mold and the top will be nicely browned.  Bake 4 to 5 minutes more to firm it up.

Serve at once.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Lattice Cheesecake Slice

Lately I've been in the mood to do a lot of baking and cooking, especially with the assistant of my 3year old.  This gives me a chance to spend some mother-daughter time with her since my attention has been mainly on our new born.  

I found this recipe for this very simple cheesecake here and thought this is a great one for us to bake.  I say bake but there's no cooking involved at all, which is great for children.  This recipe makes one large batch but I've made two smaller one simply because I wanted one for hubby and me and the other for family and friends.  It's very easy to share, (that's if you can resist the urge to eat it all yourself) just cut along each biscuit.

Thanks to Squishy this Cheesecake slice was a success with family and friends.  I will definitely make this again.  However, I'll probably change it up a little next time as Hubby is not a big fan of the Lattice biscuits but loves the cheesecake in the middle.


Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

2008 Holiday Part 6 - England South West & Wales

Cornish Cydar Farm in Cornwall.

This was a working Cyder Farm where they produce Cyder and Jams. It was free to get in but for a few pounds you can go on a tour of the farm.

They also sold the local ice cream. Little one and Hubby shared a Raspberry and Clotted cream one.




On our way to the Cotswolds we stopped at Bath...

The Roman Baths and Pump House.


For 50p you can try the spring water that supply the water in the Roman Baths. The water was warm and tasted and smelled of sulphur. I didn't like it but at least I can say that I had some water from the Roman Baths.





Another stop on the way to the Cotswold was Chedder, in Somerset.
Unfortunately there is now only one company in Cheddar that make Cheddar. Cheddar Cheese is a semi hard, sharp tasting cheese. Cheddar is the most popular cheese in England today.



Our next stop over was Cheltenham, in the Cotswolds. We were getting tired of sandwiches and chips so we decided to have Indian for dinner one night. We found this restaurant on the main street from the town centre to our cottage. Kings Balti Palace.



We had Chicken Korma, Lamb Vindaloo ( which made Hubby sweat as it's a lot hotter than they make here at home), bombay aloo (potatoes), pilau rice, naan and poppadoms.



Tintern Abbey, Tintern, Wales.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

2008 Holiday Part 12 - Paris

We decided to do a day trip into Paris. We took the Eurostar from Ashford International into Gare du Nord in Paris. It was only an 1hr 45min trip.

We then took a hop-on-hop-off, bus tour around Paris as it was the most convenient was to see all of Paris in one day.

Eiffel Tower



Notre-Dame. We found this quaint boulangeri and patisseri down the road from the Notre Dame. For lunch I had a Salami and Fromage baguette and Hubby had a Fromage pizza






I had to try a croissant and eclair while in France. It was delightful and totally different to what we get here. It's lighter and the texture is different.



Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Good Food & Wine Show 2007

Today we headed off to the Good Food & Wine Show at the Exhibition Building in Melbourne. There was an amazing choice of food & wine to taste and purchase; it was a foodies dream :) Below is just a sample of the stalls...

Boscastle Handmade Pastries

Sweets


One of the many isles

Lindt



Fancy Vodka stand


Chocolate & Grape fusions



Official Merchandise


Cafe


Swiss Hot Chocolate

Duck

Chilli's


More Chocolate



Demonstration Stands


Sample Packs

Even the little one was excited by this one!

Hotels

Yoghurt

Nando's


Celebrity Chef Food


Wine Classes


Celebrity Chefs


WOW! By the end the little one had to make room!



There were some great valued show bags. We couldn't help ourselves and so we brought the following...

Donna Hay - $5


Super Food Ideas - 2 for $5


Good Taste - $5


Sunbeam Nut Bars - 3 for $10


Mersey Valley Cheese - 3 for $10


Fun Fruits - 4 for $2


Lindt Chocolate - 3 for $10


Balconi Cakes - 2 for $7


McCormick Stock - $5


Gourmet Pies - 6 for $15: Moroccan Lamb, Black Angus, Beef & Guinness, Thai Chicken, Korma Curry, and Swiss Cheese Chicken & Leek. These were AMAZING, especially the beef & Guinness one.


Good Food hey? :)


Bon Appetite
Cherrie